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Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

economist.com

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Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#151

Post by circlefavshape »

esperent wrote: post #143
chaosite wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Israeli, are blood tests not a normal thing done everywhere? I did not realize that... My family doctor asks for a battery of lab tests about once a year (or whenever I get around to scheduling a check-up), including glucose and cholesterol and liver functions and so on. This has been going on since I was twenty something.

I'm Irish and never heard of someone getting one unless they were checking for something specific. However, I do know that regular health checks are recommended once you hit 45 or so. Not sure if that includes blood tests. We're currently ranked 16th in the world for longevity, so I doubt regular blood checks is that important - at least, I remember reading previously that there's no evidence regular blood checks are…

Irish too, and I get bloods done every year because I noticed my health insurance covers me for an annual checkup. First time I got them done revealed I had very high cholesterol

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#152

Post by teraku »

latch wrote: post #92
howlgarnish wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interestingly enough, Okinawa has the highest life expectancy in Japan. They also really got the short end of the stick during WW2 though (a third of the civilian population died during the US invasion), so this may be a statistical/survival of the fittest type quirk too, plus the historically the local diet there was fairly different to the rest of the Japan (lots of pork, less seafood, sweet potato/taro instead of…

According to wikipedia, Okinawan men now have a life expectancy below the Japanese average for men. Which is why I think it's useful to look at.

That's because lots of US troops are stationed in Okinawa and with them came lots of fast food chains. Young(er) people in Okinawa eat lots of junk food, and they have shorter life expenctancy than their parents.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#153

Post by glandium »

carlmr wrote: post #113
presentation wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the difference is the amount though - the cheesecake I had at the Cheesecake Factory after getting used to Japanese cheesecakes was shockingly sweet.

True, American sugar levels are insane. Coming from a European perspective, japanese food is very sweet though.

Main dishes, yes, but Japanese deserts are much less sweet than e.g. French ones.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#154

Post by DrRobinson »

toshk wrote: post #142
ip26 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the short answer is quite simply nobody really knows . Your best bet IMO is to ignore genetics (can't change it), pick a "Blue Zone", and emulate what you can- within reason. This is something we still haven't solved, so the next best thing is to try to follow a proven playbook. You could call it cargo cult'ing, but until we crack the code it's the best we've got. Then you can sprinkle in rock-solid conventio…

Blue zones are pretty cherry picked to fit the narrative of the authors.

I haven't read it so I'm curious, what makes you say that? Is the book concluding things that are wrong because of this?

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#155

Post by TurboHaskal »

chaosite wrote: post #121
marcyb5st wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Italian person (also our life expectancy is really good on average) this hits home. An anecdotal example: I now live in Switzerland and my current doctor was shocked when I ask to get some blood analysis without being sick. He believed that I lied to my insurance company and hid some pre-existing condition. In Italy, instead, it is pretty common that every couple of years you get a complete blood analysis just…

As an Israeli, are blood tests not a normal thing done everywhere? I did not realize that... My family doctor asks for a battery of lab tests about once a year (or whenever I get around to scheduling a check-up), including glucose and cholesterol and liver functions and so on. This has been going on since I was twenty something.

I got a funny stare from the doctor in Germany when I wanted to check my cholesterol levels.

My wife OTOH got it done without an issue.

So yeah maybe they don't bother with males or foreigners.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#156

Post by namelosw »

euske wrote: post #47

What's not mentioned in the OP: - INSANE peer pressure. If you're skinny as a twig in the US, you're probably considered normal in Japan. If you're actually an obese person (again, in the US standard), people here wouldn't even look at you straight. This kind of environment put a huge pressure for one to stay in shape. - INSANE obsession for health. I hear that Americans are obsessed with health, but oh boy, have the…

> INSANE peer pressure.

In China, it's even more so. If you're an obese person and many will throw "wow you're fat" and "you should really lose some weight" right in your face.

Although it sounds terrible, most of the time they're more concerned about you rather than trying to hurt you intentionally. But it does make people feel more guilty about being fat or eating high-calorie foods.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#157

Post by presentation »

tasogare wrote: post #77
presentation wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, it's pretty dead simple and cheap to make some miso soup, some kind of stir fried veggie dish, sear a piece of fish and throw in some tsukemono from the market - which is exactly the kind of easy, healthy meal me and my wife eat at home all the time. Perhaps I got the crash course for eating cheap in Japan on easy mode by having a Japanese wife who already knows how to do it, but there's plenty of simple reci…

> it's pretty dead simple and cheap to make some miso soup, some kind of stir fried veggie dish, sear a piece of fish and throw in some tsukemono from the market Sure if you are going for the lowest of low effort you can make something edible, but that doesn’t mean it’s tasty nor something one would like to eat everyday. The miso soup meme is funny once a week but let’s be honest and not pretend it has good nutrition…

Huh? Not only is my wife a working engineer, but I do this same kind of meal all the time on my own as a full time working person, and it takes about 5 minutes of bumping around the supermarket and yaoya that are across the street from each other conveniently located next to my station. It really is not hard to put together a nice meal of a hot pot or whatever. Miso soup isn’t literally just miso and water, you can put whatever you want in it, including boiling vegetables, tofu, fish, soy milk, whatever - crazy simple, I some variation almost every day and it’s neither boring nor a meme.

Meta point, you sound very bitter and defensive about this. How about give some of the suggestions people have made a shot? Like I mentioned, can you read some Japanese? Cookpad has tons of simple recipes.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#158

Post by krtkush »

chaosite wrote: post #121
marcyb5st wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Italian person (also our life expectancy is really good on average) this hits home. An anecdotal example: I now live in Switzerland and my current doctor was shocked when I ask to get some blood analysis without being sick. He believed that I lied to my insurance company and hid some pre-existing condition. In Italy, instead, it is pretty common that every couple of years you get a complete blood analysis just…

As an Israeli, are blood tests not a normal thing done everywhere? I did not realize that... My family doctor asks for a battery of lab tests about once a year (or whenever I get around to scheduling a check-up), including glucose and cholesterol and liver functions and so on. This has been going on since I was twenty something.

As an Indian I'll say that annual health check-ups are now normal amongst the privileged class. In my opinion it is a good thing considering how unhealthy our environment and lifestyle is along with a lot of predisposed conditions.

Re: Japanese people may have gained longevity by balancing their diets

#159

Post by marcyb5st »

dschuler wrote: post #144
marcyb5st wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an Italian person (also our life expectancy is really good on average) this hits home. An anecdotal example: I now live in Switzerland and my current doctor was shocked when I ask to get some blood analysis without being sick. He believed that I lied to my insurance company and hid some pre-existing condition. In Italy, instead, it is pretty common that every couple of years you get a complete blood analysis just…

Does the cost of health insurance change in Switzerland with a pre-existing condition?

Not the basic one as it is the same for everyone and prices are mandated by the government, but the premium packages do. For instance, you can add to your package that were you to spend nights at the hospital you'd like a private room. If you have an existing condition that makes it more likely that you'll end up spending nights at the hospital you need to pay more for said premium package.
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